~ Day by day with RA …

The Knee Bone’s Connected …

So I’ve posted how much better I have been doing since adding Arava and switching to the Paleo diet (although doing a bit less great since the switch to branded Arava from generic). My knees have always been my RA “barometer”. They’re the joints that hurt the most and the most often. I’ve seen marked improvement since the recent changes to medical and diet regimen. Except …

Except that my left knee hurts. I’m certain it’s not RA because the pain is consistent in that it occurs in the same spot and it occurs when I walk. RA pain isn’t nearly so predictable (unfortunately). This makes me think that it has more to do with the knee structure (osteoarthritis, cartilage, etc.) than with inflammation.

So my initial thought was to go see my orthopedic guy and let him shoot an X-Ray and, depending on what that shows, get a steroid injection.

But then, I also think that it might be related to the on-again/off-again bursitis I’ve had in my hip since last November. The area of pain in my knee is about where the IT band connects to the knee. If the IT band is aggravated by my bursitis, I might have related pain in my knee. This happened to me earlier on the other side.

So if it is bursitis related and not something else, I should probably just wait to see my rheumatologist at my next appointment in a couple of weeks and let her inject the hip instead. (She wanted to inject it for the bursitis last time and I just didn’t feel like dealing with it.)

So — knee or hip? Rheumatologist or orthopedic guy?

I’m thinking rheumatologist and hip. The hip really needs a boost or it’s not going to get well. If that also solves the knee issue, then so much the better. If not, then I can go see my orthopedic doc and he can take a closer look at the knee.

[Sigh.] Classic case of too many doctors and too many choices.

I hope that whatever choices come into your life today bring you health and happiness.